


Aftermath

by TheVampireLucinda



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, But really also just close friendship, Fighting, Friendship/Love, Lost and Found, M/M, Memory Loss, Obviously haha, Peril, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Pre-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Protective Bucky Barnes, Protective Steve Rogers, Reunions, Slash if you blink, Suffering, Superheroes, They all need a hug, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-29
Updated: 2019-11-29
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:48:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21603232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheVampireLucinda/pseuds/TheVampireLucinda
Summary: Steve and Bucky find each other—once again, inevitably, forever, always.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Kudos: 22





	Aftermath

He's a skinny guy, no more than 90lbs, taking on the biggest bully in the city.

Steve Rogers' morals are bigger than his body.

And he can't _stand_ bullies; though his bloody nose and blackened eyes suggest that he needs to learn when to give up.

“You're an idiot,” Bucky scolds, throwing a strong arm around thin shoulders after “helping” dispatch yet another opponent.

“I had him on the ropes,” is Steve's the defiant reply, before they argue for the 4th time today over forged army papers.

Bucky suspects Steve'll never know when to give up.

((()))

He's delirious with pain, and chemicals; and the unidentifiable drugs that they've been pumping through his system make him feel like Hell warmed over.

They had saved him. Or maybe kept is the right word. Kept him alive because he seemed the most likely to survive the horrors they had planned.

'Guess you were wrong...I'm going to die,' he thinks absently, staring up at nothing in particular. He can feel his heartbeat getting slower and slower as his sight dims around the edges. It almost doesn't even hurt anymore.

Something, _someone_ big suddenly blocks his vision. It isn't one of the mad scientists for once.

“Oh my God...Bucky!”

Trembling hands unbind the tight straps around his body; strong arms lift him from the doctor's table, but he just can't seem to comprehend _what's going on_.

All at once, the face registers. It still doesn't make sense.

“ _Steve_?”

((()))

They were happy, for a while.

Steve didn't need saving anymore, but Bucky still couldn't stop worrying, just a little.

They were _too_ happy; things were going _too_ well.

Captain America shook his head, and threw an arm around his closest friend's shoulders.

“We're gonna be okay, Buck. The war's going to end, and we can both go home.”

((()))

“Bucky!”

He watched him fall; it was endless, and eternal, and over in an instant.

Just like that, the person he loved most in the world was gone. His best friend. His only family.

Warm tears freeze on his face even as they pour from his stinging eyes. He can't even scream.

The pain in his chest will make it that much easier to crash the plane into the ice later on.

_There isn't anything left for me here anyway._

((()))

“Who the hell is Bucky?”

Something in his mind shifts, and he stares hard at the man standing in front of him.

_I know him._

That face, locked in an expression somewhere between distress and disbelief.

...And something else too.

Whoever that man was, he is _screaming_ inside.

_Because of...me?_

((()))

“I'm not going to fight you. You're my friend.”

It's miracle, as far as he was concerned. A God-damned miracle.

Bucky is alive.

After all those years, after falling off that train, after...

Years. Many, many years.

It was impossible, and yet...

_What have they done to you?_

If he thinks about it too long, he'll lose his mind. The pain and torture Buck must have endured to become such an efficient, memory-less killing machine. How long...?

The only thing that keeps him upright, eyes locked on his best friend, and soon-to-be killer, was hope.

He let his shield fall to the floor, and doesn't even watch as it slides between the broken metal beams and plunges into the dirty water several hundred feet below.

Bucky was most likely going to kill him now...but that's okay.

He was alive.

((()))

“You know me?”

It had been two years. He had avoided this confrontation for two years; pretended that he would be content avoiding it for the rest of his life.

His memory returned during that time, in a rush, and then in small, painful flashes.

It was mostly horrible.

And just on the edges of _everything_ was this man.

It was too much.

“You're Steve...I read about you in a museum,” he lies.

Steve's blue eyes say, _I don't believe you_.

((()))

“Steve, I don't think I'm worth all this.”

Captain America can feel his heart breaking. But it's been broken so much over the last several days, so why not once more?

He wants to scream.

One more mission, and then he vows to spend the rest of his life explaining to Bucky just why he choose him over...everything. Why he _is_ worth it.

If they survived, of course. One step at a time.

((()))

“I'll always chose you.”

Turns out, they didn't have the rest of their lives; not with how things went down with Stark.

Bucky sat in the jet, hurting, guilty, as Steve carefully steered them towards Wakanda. Captain America's blue eyes were set with resolve, but softened when he turned to the man formerly known as James Buchanan Barnes.

After setting the jet on autopilot, he sat down next to his best friend with a heavy sigh.

“Why?” Bucky asked, finally verbalizing something that had been bothering him since Steve risked his life to rescue him from Zola all those years ago.

“Because you're my friend, and I love you,” Steve said without hesitation. “Besides...I could ask you the same thing.” His perfect white teeth flashed in a brief smile.

“I mean, for no good reason, you've been taking care of me since we were kids. My dad was gone; and after my mom passed, you...you gave me the only hope in the world. You were—you _are_ —my only light in this crazy darkness.”

Steve wiped away a few stray tears, unsurprised to find that the hand he had used on his face came away covered in blood and dirt and soot.

_It's been a long day._

Bucky looked at him sympathetically. “Thanks for saving me...again,” he said softly. “You keep risking it all for me; Steve, you gotta stop doing that.”

“Make me.”

They looked at one another, and shared a small smile. The horrors of the day still lingered, but the warm moment offered a blessed respite.

Bucky let his hand slide over Steve's, grasping it firmly.

“To the end of the line, huh?”

Steve smiled, leaning back against the wall as blessed sleep began to take him.

“To the end of the line.”

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I think I wrote this in 2017 and forgot about it until now...I've always loved the Bucky/Steve dynamic SO MUCH. I love it even more now, especially with the addition of Sam. All of it is wonderful.


End file.
